Semmes, Raphael (sĕmz), 1809–77, American naval officer, b. Charles co., Md. He took part in the Mexican War, practiced law at Mobile, Ala., and was in the Lighthouse Service from 1856 to Feb., 1861, when he resigned his commission as commander. He soon took the same rank in the Confederate navy. His first ship, the Sumter, did considerable damage to Northern commerce before she was bottled up at Gibraltar in Jan., 1862. In Aug., 1862, Semmes, now a captain, took command of the Alabama (see Confederate cruisers Confederate cruisers, in U.S. history, warships constituting the South's seagoing navy. At the outbreak of the Civil War the United States ranked next to Great Britain in merchant marine.
..... Click the link for more information. ), and a two-year cruise made him the naval hero of the Confederacy. After the Alabama was sunk by the Kearsarge, Semmes returned to the South. He was promoted to rear admiral (Feb., 1865) and charged with the naval defense of Richmond.

Bibliography

See H. A. Gosnell, Rebel Raider (1948); C. G. Summersell, The Cruise of C.S.S. Sumter (1965).

Semmes, Raphael

(born Sept. 27, 1809, Charles county, Md., U.S.—died Aug. 30, 1877, Mobile, Ala.) U.S. naval officer. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1826, and in the Mexican War he commanded the naval landing at Veracruz. A resident of Alabama, he resigned his commission in 1861 and was appointed a commander in the Confederate navy. He captured 17 Union merchant ships before assuming command of the English-made Alabama in 1862. On numerous raids he captured, sank, or burned 82 Union ships, disrupting Union commerce. In 1864 he was defeated in a battle with the Union ship Kearsarge in the English Channel, but he escaped capture. After the war he practiced law. See also Alabama claims.

Semmes, Raphael (1809–77) Confederate naval officer; born in Charles County, Md. He served in the U.S. Navy (1826–61) and then the Confederate navy (1861–65). He commanded the CSS Sumter which captured numerous Union vessels before being blockaded in Gibraltar. In command of the CSS Alabama (1862–64) he captured or destroyed 64 ships worth 6.5 million dollars and led his ship around the world before being defeated by the USS Kearsarge off Cherbourg, France (1864).